The present invention relates to a fluid supply and reservoir useful in a clothes refreshing appliance, and more particularly, to a removable and serviceable combination nozzle and cartridge or a cartridge useable in such an appliance.
A clothes refreshing appliance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,961. In such an appliance, provision is made for the introduction of moisture in the form of steam or mist.
While the provision of heat and moisture is beneficial as disclosed, it would be an improvement in the art if there were provided an apparatus for introducing other materials, such as liquids or fluids into the interior of the clothes refreshing appliance and into an air stream flowing therethrough for application onto the clothes in the appliance.
Also, it would be an improvement in the art if a fluid supply and reservoir were provided which permitted easy serviceability of the nozzle, refill capabilities of the cartridge, replacement with a new, filled cartridge, and ease of use and assembly of the fluid supply and reservoir.
The present invention provides an apparatus for dispensing fluids into the interior of a clothes refreshing appliance such that the dispensed fluids are entrained into the air flow within the appliance to be deposited onto the clothes within the appliance.
In a preferred arrangement, the apparatus comprises a reservoir for containing fluid formulated to be sprayed onto clothing articles carried in the clothes refreshing appliance and a nozzle through which the fluid is to be dispersed. The nozzle may be separable from the reservoir for ease of replacement and serviceability. Also, the entire reservoir may be formed as a cartridge which can be removable from the interior of the cabinet for replenishment of the fluid by refilling of the existing cartridge or replacement with a new prefilled cartridge.
Preferably a source of compressed or pressurized air is provided which is used to dispense the fluid through the nozzle by means of a venturi arrangement. Where the fluid cartridge is removable, guide arrangements are provided to align the cartridge and nozzle assembly with the source of compressed air in order to assuredly align the cartridge in an automatic manner without requiring extensive operation by the user.
In a particular embodiment, the fluid cartridge can be arranged to maintain a constant siphon height for fluid contained within the cartridge in order to provide for consistent dispensing of the fluid.
Thus, the present invention provides several advantages in a dispensing of fluid through the use of a separable and replaceable nozzle and fluid cartridge assembly including: providing a readily serviceable nozzle in that the nozzle can be replaced separate and apart from the fluid cartridge, the fluid cartridge itself is changeable so a number of different chemistries can be used as fluids in different prefilled cartridges, the cartridge is easily fillable and refillable so the various chemistries can be sold in bulk for economy to the user or the cartridge, which is easily replaceable can be provided separately and prefilled, and the cartridges can be arranged to provide consistent dispensing through the use of an automatic siphon height adjustment arrangement.